Iran's Continued Uranium Enrichment

Iran has turned up the heat again in the ongoing battle over its nuclear program.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/18/20100216/twl-israel-mulling-a-spring-or-summer-wa-3cd7efd.html

A news report today quoted an Iranian official who said Israel wants to start a war with them by the summer of 2010.  Israel is rightly concerned since Iran has threatened to wipe the country off the map.

You see, it's situations like this that make the decision to invade Iraq look even worse.  President Bush comes up with the term "Axis of Evil" and includes North Korea, Iran, and Iraq in that list of evil nations.  The Bush administration convinced Americans and the British, with the help of Tony Blair, that Iraq posed an imminent threat to the U.S. and the world.  But not only did it not pose an imminent threat, and not only were there not weapons of mass destruction, but the other two countries in the "Axis of Evil" have aggressively threatened to use their weapons if they do not get their way.

North Korea has the most deplorable human rights record of any nation on earth right now, its people starved in one of the few communist countries left in the world.  It has fired off test missiles and threatened to use them on peaceful nations if it does not get its way.

Iran was held in check by Saddam Hussein's government, since the two countries were arch enemies of each other.  And since the invasion of Iraq (not because of it, but since the invasion) the country has been building its nuclear capability and has made all kinds of threats against the U.S. and Israel.  Further, protests in Iran from those who want more accountability, transparency, and choice in choosing their government have been silenced by police brutality and have had their free speech rights greatly curtailed.

So the one country that was not a threat to the world was invaded while the two that do pose a threat have not been touched.  And since Iraq caused us to take our eye off the ball in Afghanistan, now the stability of that country is in question.  The long commitment to stabilize and rebuild Iraq and Afghanistan has overstretched our military, making us very vulnerable if we were to be drawn into another international conflict, especially one between Iran and Israel.